


Thinking of You

by DarkJediQueen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 14:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3071912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were apart for years. Still every single night while he was in bed with her, he thought of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thinking of You

2000  
We made the decision two years ago that we had duties to attend. We had to stay apart for the world’s sake. I needed an heir for my family. After all the disappointments I had given them, I had to give them that. You were the Golden Boy and you had the role to fill. Marry your best friend’s sister, become an Auror, and then maybe run for Minister. Not run away with a Death Eater, and a male one at that. 

So, I made you the promise I would wait for you. My marriage contract dissolves the day my first child goes to Hogwarts. Astoria knows this. She agreed when we signed it. 

This is the last thing you will hear from me until we are friends in public again. It is the night before my wedding to her. She will have the best that life can offer for as long as she is with me. After that she will live in a flat in London. I saw the announcement about your son James Sirius in the paper. Congratulations.

Draco looked at the letter once again and reread it before he handed it to his owl. Titan was his Eagle Owl he had had for years. He left quickly with the letter and Draco watched him go.

After the final battle things had been different. Harry’s group of friends had let him into it while they were working on rebuilding the castle. That’s what happened over the summer. There were no trials and there was no jail time until after Hogwarts had been fixed. Then when the trials started, Draco was never summoned. He sat in fear at Manor waiting for the letter to come to tell him that he had to appear. Harry had been telling him not to worry. Draco still did. Then finally the letter arrived but it wasn’t the one he expected. The Wizengamot gave him a pardon. Due to his actions during the war he was being freed of his crimes. He had been given three months in Azkaban but his work rebuilding Hogwarts was being counted as time served. 

Those three months had been the best ever for him. Harry and he had become close. The past had been forgiven and Harry had never told him why or how he could forgive Draco for all he had done over the years. The Harry that went into battle was not the one that came out. The Harry that came out was battle hardened in a way that most couldn’t understand him. Those friends he had had before the Battle were still his friends but in that Battle, Draco saw the truth that was before his eyes and had been since the beginning. Harry Potter was not the Golden Boy and had never been. He heard talk of his childhood from Weasley and Granger and in that instant knew that he had made mistakes and he needed to accept that he had been a pompous ass. 

Still, the world was not ready for a relationship between Harry and Draco, not even a friendship. 

2012  
Harry was tired. Getting James and Albus off to school had been more tiring than he even thought it would be. Lily was back in her room pouting slightly at having to wait two years before she could go to Hogwarts. Ginny was somewhere in the house. Both had taken the day off to get the boys off to school and to console Lily. 

Harry saw the morning paper sitting on the table where it had not been opened. It had been too crazy that morning for him to even think about it. He quickly grabbed it and opened it. There on the front page was the announcement he had been both hoping for and dreading for years.

Draco and Astoria Malfoy Announce Divorce!  
The Daily Prophet has the exclusive on a marriage that has been lived in secret for years. Rarely seen out together, Draco and Astoria announced they are ending their twelve-year marriage. Neither was available for comments but their lawyers shed some light on the subject.

There were prenuptial agreements made by both parties. They stipulate that upon the day of their oldest child going to Hogwarts the marriage was to be null and void. Both parties agreed when they were married. Draco will be staying in Malfoy Manor with his parents and Astoria will be living in a flat of her choice in London. It seems that as long as she lives, she will have things taken care of for her.

No wonder the couple was never really seen in public, it was a marriage of arrangement and not one of love. 

Harry sighed in relief. Draco was free now. Harry was very close to being free. There were only a few papers left to sign. Harry and Ginny’s marriage had been one of convenience for years. After Albus had been born, Harry had taken in Teddy because Andromeda had taken ill and could not raise the four-year-old boy anymore. This had strained the relationship. 

He had loved Ginny at one point but her love of him had not been unconditional. When they had James it had been wonderful. Albus came along and Ginny didn’t want to raise two kids on her own. Harry had taken a desk job at that point so he could be home more often. Molly took care of the kids during the day but Ginny still didn’t want to raise them. Then, Teddy came along. From then on Ginny slept in another room on the bottom floor of the Manor they lived in. Harry and the kids were on the second floor. Lily had been a surprise a year later, both Ginny and Harry had been drunk and it was the last time they had ever had sex. 

Ginny had wanted him to be someone that he was not. She wanted him to act as though the war did not happen and there were no shadows on his soul.

A knock on the kitchen window alerted Harry he had an owl waiting on him. Harry went to the window and opened it. The owl dropped off its parcel and didn’t wait for a treat before flying off. Harry looked at the plain brown parcel a few seconds before opening it. It was the final divorce papers. All they had to do was sign them. 

“Ginny, the papers are here!” Harry yelled up the stairs. He waited a few seconds and was rewarded with the sound of two sets of feet on the stairs. Ginny appeared and a few steps behind her was Lily. 

“Can I stay?” Lily asked.

“Sure, honey. We had been hoping they would arrive before your brother went to school.” Ginny sat down and pulled Lily onto her lap. Harry pulled out the papers and looked at them. He read through them page by page while the girls sat and watched.

“Everything is as it should be. Once we sign these papers we will be free people.”

“Strange isn’t it?” Ginny asked. She picked up a quill and started to sign on all the places that were marked for her. When she was done she handed Harry the quill and then he signed the papers. They didn’t hate each other they just weren’t in love anymore and they were sick of acting like they were for society. 

Hours and hours had been spent discussing this change as a family. Ginny would keep the manor. Harry had only ever moved there because Ginny had wanted to. Harry and the kids would move into Grimmauld Place. It was in much better shape and Harry visited Kreacher there a lot. Kreacher would be glad to have someone live there full time.

“Done,” Harry said and smiled at Ginny. She smiled back at him.

“Now comes the hard part.”

“Telling your parents.”

“I want to go with you!” Lily demanded from beside them. Harry sighed and turned to her.

“Lily, we discussed this. There will be a lot of grownup talk and you shouldn’t be around for it. I promise we will take you over to see them soon. Now be good and don’t act up for Zabo.”

Lily crossed her arms and started to pout. Harry and Ginny stood up, kissed her on the head, and then left. She would pout for a while but they didn’t have time to deal with her little tantrum. 

Apparition to The Burrow took no time at all and in just a few minutes they were seated at the kitchen table with tea in cups in hand. Neither Harry nor Ginny wanted to start the conversation. They knew that it was going to disappoint her parents and cause them pain. They both loved them too much.

“Who’s staying in the Manor?” Arthur asked finally after about ten minutes of neither Ginny nor Harry talking. 

“What?” Both asked at the same time.

“Who is going to stay in the Manor? Will it be you, Ginny?” Molly asked with smile on her face.

“How did you know?” Harry asked.

“Everyone could tell you two have not been in love for several years. It was very evident and even Rose and Hugo have asked about it. We didn’t want to bring it up at all because we didn’t want hard feelings and you two don’t seem to hate each other, you have just grown apart. We knew that you would tell us when the time was right and you both had accepted it.”

xXxXxXx

“Who is she?” Ginny asked after Harry had fully moved out of the Manor the day after the kids had gone to school. It hadn’t taken much at all. He was there to change the wards around and to show Ginny how to permit people to come and go from the house. 

“What do you mean?” Harry looked at his now ex-wife. The Manor was Unplottable so there were no reporters waiting for words from them as they stepped outside. Instead they were camped outside the Ministry to talk to him. Ginny was safe. She was a reporter herself so they just ambushed her at work. Harry was not looking forward to going to work.

“I deluded myself for years, Harry. I know that you fell in love with someone else that summer after the war. I didn't want to believe it until talking with George and Charlie. They have known for all these years but felt you didn't want to be with that person. I should know who she is so that when you go to her, I can react better to the press.”

“We did meet during the summer after the war and yes I did fall in love. I did love you and I thought what I felt was going to be enough for us.”

“Why didn’t you go with them?”

“I was scared. The world would have torn us away from each other. Believe me Ginny, I love my children and I have never thought about what life would have been if I never had gone with you. I can't imagine that. The world wouldn't have been ready for us then and they might not be ready for us now but I don't care now.”

“How do you know that she wants you still?”

“Because he just divorced his wife.” Harry waited while what he said sunk into her mind. Ginny looked at him to see if he was joking. Harry watched as it dawned on her face that he was not joking and then again that she knew whom it was.

“Really?”

“He was different. Gone was the Draco from school. This Draco was real. He wasn't bound by anything anymore. He didn't have to be the Heir of Malfoy. He was the Malfoy family now it and it was his to shape. He apologized for much that he did. Seeing he made the conclusions about me and mine based on nothing at all.”

“You are the reason that he never went to jail and his mother got a reduced sentence.”

“She saved my life and lied to Voldemort. I could not see her sent to jail after that. They were both happy to be rid of Lucius so we made sure he stayed away. Give Draco a chance, Ginny. You will like him. He is funny.”

“You have been with him?”

“No, I've not seen him since we decided that the time wasn't right. Not up until we saw him at the Train.”

“I will give him a chance. For you. Anything for you.”

Harry hugged her and was about to leave when an owl flew in the window. It dropped its letter on the kitchen table and then flew away again. Harry knew the writing. It was from Albus.

“Who's it for?” Ginny asked. 

“Me.” Harry picked up the letter and opened it. 

Dad,

I am enjoying school very much. I made everyone promise not to tell you which house I am and even convinced Headmistress McGonagall not to tell you. I want you to know that I have broken a family tradition; I am the first of Weasley blood not to be in Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat did give me a choice.

I made a friend on the train and he was sorted before me. If he is in Slytherin then it can't be that bad and the Hat put me there. I want you to break it to grandfather. He will be crushed but one of us had to do it and I think Lily will be in Ravenclaw. 

Love,  
Albus

PS My friends’ name is Scorpius. 

Harry looked up at Ginny. He was worried how she would take it. One of their children was in Slytherin. 

“He seems happy with the Hat's choice. I am sure he will bring the house the positive attention that it needs after the War. You are still breaking it to my father.”

“I will tell him tomorrow.”

Tomorrow came too quickly for Harry. He was all moved into Grimmauld Place and now it was time to go to work. Arthur was waiting on him in the outer area of his office.

“Harry.”

“Arthur, I think we need to talk.” 

Nothing was said until Harry was seated at his desk and had finished putting all his papers in order.

“Albus wanted me to tell you. I am sure that once the paper gets a hold of it, you will be inundated with requests for interviews.”

“What?”

“Albus was...no he wanted to be placed in Slytherin and the Sorting Hat put him there.”

“I see. Molly and I had wondered. We heard him talking to a garden snake once. He was convincing it that it didn't want to live in our garden because if it stayed then it would be killed. It left our garden and never came back. I never told my daughter because I saw how much she hated it when you and Parseltongue were brought up.”

“You two just know everything don't you.”

“I suggest that you proclaim Albus's house choice yourself. Don't let the paper get a jump on it. Be proud. I am sure that he will bring the House a lot of good.”

“He mentioned he had made a friend on the train and wanted to be with him.”

“Who?”

“My son.” A voice said. Harry looked up and saw Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway. He was dressed not in robes but in a jumper and slacks. Harry waved him in. When Harry looked back at Arthur, Arthur was staring at Draco in wonder. Harry wanted to jump up and run to Draco but he restrained himself. This neither the time nor the place, because Arthur was in the room and reporters running around the Ministry. Harry looked back at Draco and saw in his eyes that he was just as excited for what was to come. Harry gave him a knowing smile.

“I see. Harry, have a good day. Mr. Malfoy.”

“Mr. Weasley.”

Arthur was almost to the door and he turned back. “Mr. Malfoy, I wanted to let you know that if you break Harry's heart. They won't be able to convict us because they won't find your body and no one would fess up.”

“I understand and if I ever hurt him, I will let you.”

“We expect you for dinner tonight night, Harry and bring Draco. Ginny has decided that you can keep the regular night and she will come on Thursdays. I guess they are changing her work schedule and she will be working Tuesday nights now.”

“Yes, Sir.” 

Arthur left before he could see the look of fear on Draco’s face. Harry laughed but didn’t get up. Draco sat down in the chair Arthur had just left and smiled as he watched Harry work. Once he was done looking at his messages Harry wrote a few words down on a piece of paper and attached it to the leg of the owl in his office.

“How do you want to do this? The paper ran my story this morning about our marriage. It ran yours two days ago. How long until you want them to find out about us?”

“What was that you sent off?”

“A letter asking a reporter to come to my office to discuss an article.”

“About Albus?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s hold off on you and me for now. I was going to ask you out tonight but we already have plans it seems.”

“They’ll be nice.”

“I am sure that they will. I never doubted that. I am just worried about the rest of them.”

“Fred, George, and Charlie already know about you. I am sure that Hermione will break it to Ron nicely when she tells him. Ginny will have told her. Bill will be fine with it. The only one to worry about is Percy and he can just live with it.”

“What about Ginerva?”

“We talked. She has known since the beginning that she hasn’t had my whole heart, it seems. We are content to be apart.”

“Good. That is all I need to be seen as a home wreaker.”

“My close friends and family have known for a while now that we were not happy together. I could have just slept around and so could she but we didn’t.”

“So how should I dress for tonight?”

“How you are is fine. Lily will be with me and I am sure that Molly will have someone’s kids while they are out of town.”

Harry stood up and moved around his desk. Draco stood up from his chair and stepped up to him. Draco reached out and touched Harry’s face, lightly. Harry reached out and did the same to him. 

“I should get back to work. Lily will be at Molly’s until we get done with dinner. I will ring you when I am done here and we can meet at Grimmauld Place.”

Draco leaned forward and kissed Harry on the lips. He pulled back before Harry could try and make it more. Harry smiled as Draco left his office.

“I want your answer in seven hours, Potter!”

xXxXxXx

Its two weeks after the first dinner with Molly and Arthur that Harry received the letter. It was old and Harry could tell that it had been read several times because of the crease marks. Harry knew the letter on sight without ever having to open it. Harry hadn’t laid his eyes on the letter in years and was looking at it in his mind right now.

Comparisons are easily done once you've had a taste of perfection. Like an apple hanging from a tree, I picked the ripest one. I still got the seed. You said move on. Where do I go? I guess second best is all I will know. She kissed my lips, I tasted your mouth. She pulled me in, I was disgusted with myself.

Cause when I'm with her, I am thinking of you. Thinking of you. What you would do if you were the one who was spending the night. Oh I wish that I was looking into your eyes. How do I get better once I've had the best. You said there's tons of fish in the water, so the waters I will test.

You're the best and yes I do regret. How I could let myself let you go. Now the lesson's learned, I touched it I was burned. Oh won't you walk through and bust in the door and take me away. Oh no more mistakes. Cause in your eyes I'd like to stay...

Whenever Harry is unsure of Draco's love or they get in a row, he pulls it out and reads it. Sometimes, he just reads it to remember the feelings that he had when he got the letter. 

It's a day like that when Harry looks at his son, ten years later, standing at the alter getting married that he reads the letter. Draco is beside him and they both stare at the altar. Draco's hand is wrapped around one of Harry's and in the other hand is the letter. 

“May I present Messrs Scorpius and Albus Potter-Malfoy!”   
The End


End file.
